What a week! The first week of the month is usually FULL for me. I have a few meetings that consistently meet in the first week, so it always takes planning, and grace from Dave. I was out of the house 4 of the 7 nights. Yikes! The evenings this week should slow down considerably.

Oh…having the Chargers AND the Forty Niners in the playoffs for the last two weeks has done slight damage to our obedience to 100% real food. There may or may not have been a snack or 7 that are not technically “allowed” in the rules. We will imagine this did not occur, and there will be grace all around. kthnxbye

Last week’s menu had some real winners. My favorite item was the crab cakes. They were a bit of a labor of love, but so so worth the effort. I used a large biscuit cutter to shape them, and used bread crumbs in place of panko. They turned out really delish, but next time I make them, I will have to do something about the breading. It was a little crumbly.

My second favorite was the beef pot roast. I ordered a grass-fed beef roast from my local CSA. Honestly, grass-fed beef has such a different flavor. The only change I made was to add potatoes to the crock pot for the last hour. Pretty yum!

It is 2014. This is my year. Pretty sure I say that every year, but I do have big plans. Personally, spiritually, and also in business. Looking forward to getting my plans down on paper/blog and then mapping out activities to reach my goals.

Last week, I was so eagerly anticipating the crab cakes, but they had to be moved to this week due to some scheduling issues that prevented me from having time to shell the crab. Tomorrow…

My favorites from the week were the pot pie and the meatballs. These are both go-to meals, and each time I make them, I remember why they continue to land on my menus. I had a slight issue with the pot pie this time around because I let the pie crust get too warm before rolling it onto the top. Here are pictures of the yummy filling, and the top-crust FAIL.

Another fail this week was that I did not get to make stock out of my chicken carcass. I stripped the whole chicken that I cooked in the crock pot for the pot pie, and left everything in the pot to make overnight stock. Forgot to turn the darn thing on when i went to bed! It crushed me to have to toss it into the compost in the morning.

This week, we plan to cook up this yumminess:

Sunday: Take two on crab cakes. Also planning on cooking a LARGE pot of Chili for the freezer. I modify this chili recipe quite a bit. I leave out the sugar, bacon bits, hotsauce, corn chips and beef boulion. I use one whole beer. Honestly, this turns out AMAZING.

Hoping that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. For some this is a tough time of year though, so for those of you that struggle during Christmas, I hope you were able to find pockets of peace and joy.

We celebrated with my side of the family. Lots of love and lots of cousins. It was loud, and fun, and the food was amazing. On Christmas eve, my mom made her yummy crab salad, and I attempted desert. Pinterest kind of hosed me this year because I found a super cute idea for individual pumpkin pies. I am led to believe that I can make anything that I find on Pinterest, but most of the posts sit on a throne of lies.

It took FOREVER to put together the crusts, and the filling did not set before the crust burned. Do not get me started on the fact that I did not realize until JUST now, that I was supposed to use a mini-muffin tin. I.cannot.even….

2014 is just a few days away. YAY! I love new beginnings. A beginning is an opportunity to do better. It is refreshing.

Starting on Jan 2nd, we are doing another “10 days of real food” pledge. Dave says he needs the 1st to enjoy a celebratory sweet (or five) on new years day. Hence starting on the 2nd. WAY too much sugar over the last few weeks, and I am feeling really yucky. Brain fog, cranky, not sleeping well, and really insecure. I will have to do some reflection to get to the bottom of that last one.

Anyone feeling like joining us on this 10 day journey? We are better together you know!

Here is what we have planned for dinner this week:

Sunday: It is crab season, so I am giving these crab cakes a go. It could be a culinary disaster, or the best thing I have ever eaten. I will photo document. (Planning to use whole wheat bread crumbs in place of panko.)

Wednesday: Happy New Year!!! Dave’s request is Chicken pot pie. Most of the time, I modify this recipe and make my own crust, but I have some left over pie crusts from my pumpkin pie attempt that I plan to use.

Thursday: Whole wheat spaghetti with parmigiana meatballs. I use a marinara from Trader Joe’s that does not have any sugar or processed oils. Yay! Tip…freeze the remainder of your sauce of choice in ice cube trays for quick sauce options for the littles. Mine love “dippers”.

Here is what I have learned over the last month. Time is in short supply during this “season”. Cookies are hard to avoid. Brain-fog returns IN FORCE when I eat more than my share of the aforementioned cookies. Lastly, we eat lots of granola with yogurt and/or Amy’s burritos for dinner when this mama does not meal plan.

One fall/winter highlight that I want to share is making applesauce with my sweet boy. He really enjoys peeling the apples, and then also really enjoys eating the resulting sauce. We have made several batches in the last few weeks. I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but please get yourself an apple peeler if you do not already have one. Super cheap, and one of the very best gadgets I have in my kitchen. Here is my tiny using the fun tool…

Back to the discipline of a meal plan.

Sunday: Garlic and lemon baked salmon with roasted potatoes and green beans inspired by this recipe

Monday: Left overs from Sunday. (I have an evening commitment, so Dave will be rocking the left overs solo.)

During this week, I am hopeful that I can find some time to rest, and prepare for the festivities. It always seems so rushed, so I will have to work hard to carve out the rest I crave. Until next week…

We are STILL eating chili from earlier in the week. We made a huge batch, so it fed us for several lunches, and also stocked the freezer.

The honey mustard chicken was amazing! I doubled the recipe and brought it to a mama that welcomed a new tiny at the end of October. She sent me an email raving about it, so it will be a keeper.

The pulled pork tacos turned into roasted pork tenderloin with blueberry sauce. I did not have any limes, and I needed to improvise. It was really tasty, and the kids gobbled it up.

Tonight for desert I pulled together a yummy cobbler with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and apple. I squeezed a meyer lemon over the top of the fruit with a little zest, then drizzled honey on the top. I used this recipe for the crumble, using 2tbs honey mixed with whole plain yogurt instead of cane sugar. Yummo!